More drama as El Paso Republicans vote to remove Williams and county chairwoman

4 months ago 5

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The fallout from the state GOP’s unfortunate election endorsements and laundry list of political missteps plus questionable spending spilled over to Colorado Springs where members voted to censure their county chair.

But does the vote count, that’s what is in question.

The vote was held at the time and place of a meeting called and then cancelled by Chair Vicki Tonkins.

Yet the El Paso County Central Committee members met anyway and claiming a quorum, passed resolutions of censure and demands that both she and state party chairman Dave Williams step down or face removal.

Colorado Politics reports on the continuing commotion with Tonkins’ response that it was a “fake meeting” and declaring the vote invalid.

“A fake meeting of disgruntled agitators who met in a parking lot does not mean actual business occurred and it’s not worthy of your reporting,” Tonkins told Colorado Politics in an email late Monday. “The El Paso County Republicans support Dave Williams and will continue to do so.”

Yet the county vice chair, Todd Watkins, makes the case that Tonkins violated county party bylaws in setting a party meeting for Monday, then changing it over the weekend to Wednesday, in violation of the bylaw’s 15-day notice requirement.

He’s right about that.

“We had a quorum,” Watkins told Colorado Politics on Monday. “She did not cancel today’s meeting, (which) was held in accordance with the proper call.”

So technically, the meeting was not fake, and the votes are valid.

A state party spokesperson told Colorado Politics the actions taken would not survive a challenge and accused the duly elected voting committee of usurping the chairwoman’s authority by moving forward with the meeting.

And yet no county chair is a dictator, and the county central committee absolutely has the authority to censure and demand her resignation with a two-thirds vote.

But the state party spokesperson is correct in that the resolutions would not likely survive a challenge, which would have to go through the state party led by Williams.

PeakNation™ will recall that as party chair, Williams endorsed himself for Congress. It’s unlikely he will endorse any effort to remove himself as party chairman, and his term does not expire until next year.

Williams hasn’t been heard from since he lost the congressional race there. Neither has he commented on a petition with the signatures of one-fourth of state central party committee members demanding a meeting to vote on his removal.

And yet, the state central committee has the power to call a meeting on its own. All they need is the mailing list of the 400 central committee members to call the vote, the money to rent a space big enough for its membership, and the three-fifths vote to remove Williams.